Automobile buffer and attaching device therefor



Feb, 3. I925.

. G. A. LYON AUTOMOBILE BUFFER AND ATTACHING DEVICE THEREFOR Filed July 12 v f 0' I M ism GEORGE ALBERT LYON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMOBILE BUFFER AND ATTACHING DEVICE THEREFOR.

Application filed July 12, 1923.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, GEORGE ALBERT LYON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have made a certain new and useful Invention Relating to Automobile Buffers and Attaching Devices Therefor, of which the following is a specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which form part of the same.

This invention relates especially to automobile buffers and attaching devices therefor which comprise cooperating bracket members adapted to be bolted to the spring bolt of each frame end of the automobile while another attaching portion or member may extend further rearward along the outside of the frame channel and be clamped or bolted thereto as by suitable hook bolt devices. These two cooperating bracket members preferably have relatively straight connecting portions which may be securely held in adjusted position as by one or more bolts passing through holes or slots in the connecting portions whereby those bracket members may be adjusted to the extent of half an inch or an inch more or less to fit different width frames. In some cases such bracket members may be detachably connected to bufier fronts of the single or preferably the double strip type comprising two vertically separated front strips or members which may advantageously have integral diagonally or obliquely folded connector portions at the buffer ends This type of buffer front may be connected to the attaching brackets by suitable clamps engaging and preferably rigidly holding in the desired vertically spaced relation the two front strips or members at several laterally separated points while adjustably connecting thereto the connector portions of the attaching bracket members which may be slotted or apertured for this purpose;

In the accompanying drawing showing in a somewhat diagrammatic way several illustrative embodiments of this invention:

Fig. 1 is a top' view of an illustrative buffer and cooperating attaching devices.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view of one of the attaching brackets thereof.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section thereof taken substantially along the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4: is a front view of another illustrative bufl'er construction.

Serial No. 651,037.

Fig. 5 is a plan view thereof, and

Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

In the illustrative arrangement shown in Fig. 1 the buffer front may comprise several strip-s of tempered spring steel which may have overlapping or otherwise reenforcing central portions 1, 2 clamped together in laterally adjusted position, as indicated, so as to space apart at the desired distance the connected end loops 3, 4 adapted to be arranged in protective position adjacent the automobile wheels. These steel strips preferably extend inward and rearward adjacent the end loops to form a substantially straight connector portions 5, 6 which may be laterally or preferably somewhat obliquely arranged. as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and the strip which preferably has several connecting slots or apertures 20 in this connecting portion may then be extended rearward to form an attaching portion or bracket 7 which, as shown in Fig. 3, may advantageously be bent laterally downward where used to attach a bufi'er to the front of an auto-mobile. This attaching end 9 may be carried inward in offset position as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and may be formed with an angularly arranged slot 13 or series of apertures through which a hook bolt 10 may extend to clamp this attaching arm or bracket member to the automobile frame member at this point when the nut 11 is tightened on the shank of the hook bolt. As shown in Fig. 3, these buffer front strips may advantageously be formed of steel strip having quarter round edges which may project forwardly in the buffer front portions 1, 2 so that after being bent around the end loops 3, 4: these quarter round edges are then located on the rear of the strip where it forms the straight connector portions 5. 6 so as to give a somewhat greater flat contact surface with which the cooperating connector portion 14 of the short bracket arms or members 12 may cooperate. These connector portions 14 are preferably substantially straight and may be formed with square or other non-circular holes to accommodate the similarly shaped shanks of the connecting bolts 17 which may pass through the slots 20 of the other strip to clamp these connector portions securely in adjusted position by means of the nuts 18 and lock washers 1.9, for instance. As shown in Fig. 3, these short bracket arms or members 12 may advantag'eously have downwardly bent ends 15 formed with a suit-able aperture 16 to bolt or clamp these bracket arms to the spring bolt of the automobile frame end, preferably in connection with 'a special conical nut where a conical hole 16 is formed in these bracket arms. In this way a strong and simple attachment for the buffer is secured and the bracket arms may not only be adjusted laterally to suit the different widths of frame ends, but also where it is desired to secure buffers of this type to the rear of automobiles, the buffer and bracket arms may be turned upside down with advantage in many cases so that these bent attachin and bracket alms 9,-15 then project upwar to cooperate to better advantage wit-h the rear frame ends of the automobile which are usually located somewhat further from the ground.

In many cases attaching brackets of general type may be used to connect single or double bufler fronts to automobiles as shownin Figs. 4 and 5. In that illustrative buffer the buffer front may be formed of two elements one of which comprises the 1on front strip 21 and short front strip extending from the integral diagonally folded connector portion 22 to the adjacent clamping member 27. The other bufier front element comprises a similar connector portion 24 and a long front strip 25 below and a short front strip 26 above so that each element may have one front strip extending integrally across the center of the buffer front. The clamping devices 27 may be of any suitable construction and, as indicated in Fi 6, may comprise the clamping member 2 having recurved upper and lower ends so as to have gripping engagement with the corresponding front strips and each clamping member is perforated to accommodate the wedging aligning projections 30 of the cooperating aligning securing member 28 which may have a round or annular ornamental front and have one or more threaded bolt stems 29 projecting through holes in the connector portions 31, 32 of the bracket members. In this way the bracket members are held in the" desired relative osition and are securely clamped to the utter front members when the nuts are tightened on these bolts which forces the wedging aligning members 30 between the adjacent edges of the front strips so as to force them apart and into tight engagement with the enclosing ends of the clamping members, if desired. These brackets may be of generally similar form and construction to what has been described in connection with Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and the longer bracket member 32 may have a rearwardly extending arm 37 which may be downwardly bent and have an offset attaching end 39 adapted to accommodate a hook bolt 10.

this

The shorter arm member 31 may have a downwardly bent apertured end 35 to be bolted to the spring bolt as previously described. Of course this type of clamping member may in some cases be laterally adjusted with respect to the buffer front strips to some extent at least, although it is usually more desirable to secure the needed adjustment by having a series of adjusting holes or slots in the connector portions 31, 32 of the bracket members which may, as

indicated in Fig. 6, be formed of steel strip having quarter round edges and arranged with their flat faces in contact.

This invention has been described in connection with a number of embodiments, forms, proportions, parts, arrangements, materials, methods of connection and use, to the details of which disclosure the invention is not of course to be limited, since what is claimed as new and what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

1. The automobile buffer front formed of steel strip and comprising outwardly extending end loop portions formed with rounded front edges, obliquely inturned substantially straight connector portions adjacent said end loop portions and rearwardly extending attaching portions havingvertically displaced ends formed with book bolt aperturesand adapted to be bolted to the automobile frame members, and cooperating short bracket members having sub:

stantially straight connector portions formed roundcd front edges, obliquely inturned sub-' stantially straight connector portions djacent said end loop portions and rearwardly Jon extending attaching portions having vertically displaced ends adapted tobe bolted to the automobile frame members, and cooperating short bracket members having substantially straight connector-"portions for-rated with rounded front edges and adapted to I be adjustably clamped to the connector po1' tions of said front members and having rearwardly extending vertically displaced bracket arms adapted to be bolted to the spring bolts of automobile frame members.

3. The automobile buffer comprising a plurality of connected front reenforcing strip members and integral outwardly extending end loop portions formed with quarter round front edges, inturned .slibstantially straight connector portions adjae cent said end loop portions and rearwardly extending attaching portions having downwardly bent ends formedwith hook bolt slots, and cooperating short bracket members having substantially straight connector end portions formed with quarter round front edges and adapted to be adjustably clamped to the connector portions of said front members and having downwardly and rearwardly extending bracket arms formed with'apertures adapted to be bolted to the spring bolts of automobile frame members.

4. The automobile buffer comprising a plurality of connected front strip members and outwardly extending end loop portions formed with quarter round front edges, inturned substantially straight connector portions-adjacent said end loop portions and rearwardly extending attachlng portions having downwardly bent ends, and cooperating short bracket members having substantially straight connector end portions formed with quarter round front edges and adapted to be adjustably clamped to the connector portions of said front members and having downwardly and rearwardly extending bracket arms formed with apertures adapted to be bolted to the spring bolts of automobile frame members.

5. The automobile buffer front formed of steel strip and outwardly extending end loop portions, inturned substantially straight connector portions adjacent said end loop portions and rearwardly extending attaching portions having ends formed with bolt apertures, and cooperating short bracket members having substantially straight connector portions adapted to be adjust-ably clamped to the connector portions of said front members and having rearwardly extending bracket arms formed with apertures and adapted to be bolted to the spring bolts of automobile frame members.

' 6. The automobile buffer front formed of steelv strip and comprising outwardly extending end portions,- in turned connector portions adjacent said end portions and rearwardly extending attaching portions having ends formed with bolt apertures, and cooperating short bracket members having connector portions adapted to be adjustably clamped to the connector poitions of said front members and having rearwardly extending bracket arms formed with apertures and adapted to be bolted to the spring bolts of automobile frame members.

7. The automobile buffer attaching bracket comprising a short bracket arm havlng a dependin end adapted to be bolted to the spring bolt of a car frame and having a substantially straight outwardly extending end connector portion formed with front quarter round edges, and a cooperating long bracket arm having a depending slotted end nnrtirm adanted to receive 3. i100]! bolt and be bolted to the flange of a car frame and having a substantially straight connector portion formed with rearward quarter round edges to be adjustably clamped to said cooperating connector portion and support buffer front members in connection therewith.

. 8. The automobile buffer attaching bracket comprising a short bracket arm having a depending end adapted to be bolted to the spring bolt of a car frame and having a substantially straight outwardly extending connector portion formed with front quarter round edges, and a cooperating long bracket arm having a. depending portion adapted to be bolted to the flange of a car frame and having a substantially straight connector port-ion formed with rearward quarter round edges to be adjustably clamped to said cooperating connector por- .tion and support buffer front members in connection therewith.

9. The automobile buffer attaching bracket comprising a short bracket arm having a depending end adaptedto be bolted to the spring bolt of a car frame andfltaving a substantially straight outwardly extending connector portion formed with non-circular bolt holes, and a cooperating long bracket arm having a depending slotted end portion adapted to receive a hook bolt and be bolted to the flange of a. car frame and having a substantially straight connector portion formed with slots cooperating with said bolt holes to be adjustably bolted to said 00.- operating connector portion and support bufl'er front members in connection therewith.

buffer 10. The automobile attaching bracket comprising a short bracket arm having an end adapted to be bolted to the spring bolt of a car frame and having a substantially straight connector portion formed with bolt holes, and a cooperating long bracket arm having a depending slotted end portion adapted to receive a hook bolt and be bolted to the flange of a car frame and having a substantially straight connector portion formed with slots cooperating with said bolt holes to be adjustably bolted to said cooperating connectorportion and support buffer front members in connectionconnector portion and support bufier front members in connection therewith.

12. The automobile bufi er attaching bracket comprising a short bracket arm having an end adapted to be bolted to the spring bolt of a car frame and having a substantially straight end connector-portion, and a cooperating long bracket arm having an apertured end portion adapted to receive a substantially straight connector portion to be adjustably secured to said cooperating connector portion and support bufier front members in connection therewith.

GEORGE ALBERT LYOX. 

